So I'm working on writing a biography for my mom as a gift for her 85th birthday. I've been interviewing her about things that happened in her life. My grandfather (her dad) died as a result of a mining accident in Germany shortly after WWII (best guess is sumer of 1947 or 1948). A large slab of coal fell from the roof of a mine and struck him in the back, breaking his spine in two places. He was subsequently paralyzed from his mid-back down. He died three months after the accident; we are assuming due to the lack of effective medical treatments and lack of antibiotics and painkillers after the war.
The thing I can't believe that my mom told me is that some time after his accident, they implanted a rod into each of his hips that protruded out of his body, the purpose of which was to allow him to be suspended an inch off the bed to allow for air flow under him. This seems absurd to me--why not just run a length of leather or fabric under his buttocks and lift him on either side like a swing? Why go to the trouble of such a crazy and presumably painful process?
Does anyone know if such things were done, and if so, why? I can't find any references to anything like this, and I'm wondering if perhaps my grandmother may have told the story wrong to my mom. Any help is greatly appreciated...
Some links in this comment maybe considered NSWF/NSFL, You have been warned
This is a procedure similar to external fixations^1 used today to help set broken bones/damaged tissue^2. It was fairly common for a short period of time in the 30's and 40's it was thought that since they couldn't feel anything it wouldn't hurt them. Also it could have been used as an aid to help if he had a broken pelvis as a traction device. A similar procure is still done today for pelvic trauma (see Link 2)
The procedure might have been done to prevent bed sores(aka pressure ulcers)/skin break down^3 especially on the coccyx area. Infection of these bed sores was a leading killer of para/quadriplegics prior to antibiotics. As /u/NotRussian-Nope mentioned Jean-Martin Charcot^4 an early researcher into bed sores did not understand their causes (as we know is a a large combination of factors including pressure, sheering and nutrition, area hygiene and ). He believed it was a sign that the Central Nervous system was damage and would lead to death(Which it often would but for other reasons including infection and lack of cleanliness due to loss of bladder/bowel control).
They were likely trying to NOT use lifting devices because they were starting to figure out that sheering caused more harm and helped contributed greatly to the start/progression of bed sores/pressure ulcers) [Amazing!! presentation on sheering and pressure ulcers^5]
80% of all Spinal cord injury cases died during WW1 with in the first 2 weeks after the injury ( Guttmann L: Spinal Cord Injuries: Comprehensive Management and Research, ed 2. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Scientific, 1976 & Source^6) due to the lack of the physiotherapy/occupational care required(Among the terrible conditions they were enduring)
Even as late as 1944 Spinal Cord Injuries were consider hopeless cases that would die very soon^7. General George Patton died after being involved in a car accident where he sustained a cervical spinal cord injury. He refused treatment and reportedly died of cardiovascular complications^7.
Depending on the type of Injury^8 and if it was complete or incomplete^9 would greatly affect outcome. I'm guess that your grandfather likely had a Complete Thoracic(T1-->T10) Injury. Where he may have been able to use his hands and be able to breath but be unable to move his body below the level of injury or control his bladder/bowels/have no sexual function.
Also as a side note, if they were using the rods as a lifting device it would cause more harm then good. We now know that the parasympathetic nervous system still functions even if the spinal cord is damaged. Pain or other stimuli result in something called autonomic dysreflexia^10 (Source^11, Source^12 ) which can lead to death of not treated properly. Any time that he would have been suspended by this device it would have undoubtedly caused extreme pain and damage to his body, although the Doctors at that time believe they were doing the correct thing.
I'm not back in my office until Wednesday but we have some old physiotherapy manuals that have some similar techniques explained. I'll see if I can find them for you.
Please note I need to complete this answer with proper sources.
EDIT: Added tons of new information, expanded on original comment and LOTS of sources :)!
One thing to remember, is a lot of medicine was learned through trial and error, and operated quite a bit on misconceptions. The more we learned, the more standards were set and passed around. I think it was somewhere around the 1950's-60's where major advancements in the understandings of paralysis started to be developed; before then I do not believe there was that great of an understanding. So many Doctors in different areas and Countries took different paths to treat the associated effects they saw from the condition. Just like this way you are talking about, there may or may not have been many areas that used it, but some did. I know I'll get negative points again for saying this, but the fact is not everyone learned the same thing, nor did the information pass effectively across the world. You can look at today and the same things continues, and until it becomes an accepted norm, the information will take a while to spread.